It may not be the biggest pavilion at the Shanghai Expo 2010 event but the Arabian City is the most expensive.
This is the Saudi Arabian pavilion, loosely described as a ‘silk road treasure boat’ or more simply the ‘Moon Boat’, which cost a whopping $146 million to construct.
You can definitely see the oasis-style theme to the place which sits amid a ‘happy desert’ with the top deck planted with a hanging garden, complete with water pools and featuring full-grown date palm trees.
There are even tents erected on top to give visitors a chance to experience a little bit of desert life, just without the scorpions.
Chinese and Saudi architects combined to create the pavilion which covers 6,000 square meters.
It’s not all green though as the pavilion also sports the world’s largest 3D IMAX screen. You can forget catching Iron Man 2 on it though as it will only be used for short, cultural films.
See more shots below.
Tags: architecture, design, shanghai expo, tourism
[...] seen some stunning pavilions at the Shanghai Expo 2010 event: the Saudi’s desert oasis, the U.K.’s bizarre yet thrilling Seed Cathedral (see video footage of it after the jump) and, [...]